Page 19 of Conflicted Fate
“All right. So, we’re going to seek out a small army from this prince and take them across the border into the empire. We storm Teagan, kill the Alpha, then leave. Am I missing anything?”
“Yes.”
I frowned, thinking hard, trying to find out what I’d missed. But nothing was coming to me. Sure, details were currently being glossed over, including the biggest ones, such as how we would storm the city and how we would make sure to get to Teagetes’ stone so that he was vulnerable. But that was the gist of the plan.
“What? I can’t think of anything.”
“We aren’t addressing what we do now, while at the prince’s mercy,” Kiel said.
“True. What do you think we should do about our house arrest situation?” I asked.
Kiel stroked his jaw. “Strip.”
I blinked. “What?”
Gripping my shoulders a little tighter, he steered me inside and pulled the doors closed behind him.
“Strip,” he commanded again.
“Why? I just put this on. It’s itchy, yeah, but—”
“Now,” Kiel growled with a twinkle in his eye as he turned me around and pulled the robe over my shoulders.
I let it fall to the floor.
“Much better,” Kiel said, taking me by the arm and guiding me to the bed, where he laid me down on my stomach, which wasnotwhat I’d thought he was doing.
Of course, Kiel had put an end to that, so maybe I shouldn’t be surprised.
When his fingers dug into the flesh of my upper back, I groaned, realizing I’d been had.
“You can’t honestly think I’m going to be distracted by a simple back massage, right?” I asked. “Even if it feels terribly good.”
“No, no, of course not,” Kiel said slyly.
“Good. I’m made of sterner stuff than that.”
“I know,” he agreed.
“I’m glad.” His fingers found something in my lower back, and my face flopped into the bed.
“That’s why I’m giving you afull bodymassage.”
His fingers slid down over my ass, and I melted into the covers, no longer capable of words.
Chapter Eleven
His fingers found knots I didn’t know I had and moved in slow, firm circles, pressing them out, releasing the muscles. Each one brought forth a groan of relief as he worked his way down one leg, from hamstring, to calf, and then up the other in the reverse order. The warmth of his hands, the strength of his touch, worked wonders.
“I didn’t realize I was so tight,” I mumbled at one point just before he started working on my other ass cheek, his hands perhaps a little too free and gratuitous forjusta massage.
“Me neither, or I would’ve insisted on this some time ago. I should’ve known better. You’ve adapted so well to this new world, but you’ve been through far too much in the past few months to be anythingbuta ball of tension.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I said into the covers as he found another cluster of knots and began to work each one free. “This feels amazing.”
My brain was swimming on cloud nine, the relief in my muscles spreading a sweet warmth through my body and mind. It was similar to floating in the hot springs near my parents’ old house, but so muchbetter. Kiel’s touch was … intimate. Although he wanted things between us to be over, or on pause, that didn’t stop his fingers from dipping low between my legs as he worked.
Though he never touched my center directly, he offered a certain inadvertent tease that, bit by bit, stirred to life the embers of a flame I hadn’t lit since he’d told me who he was. Not because I didn’t want to, but because he didn’t want it.
